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Batman is dead

I know there aren't too many comic book readers here at PD, so I didn't think spoiler tags would be necessary.

Anyway, as the thread title reads: Batman is dead.

In Final Crisis #6, Batman, facing the end of the world, decided to make a "once in a lifetime exception" by shooting and killing Darkseid with a cosmic gun, loaded with a cosmic bullet. In return, Darkseid incinerated Bats with his Omega Beams as the shot was fired, a fate that Bruce Wayne knew and was willing to accept. His final word? "Gotcha." The final page of the comic is Superman, holding the gruesome, burnt out corpse of Batman.

Now, those of us who have been following comics of late knew that Batman would meet his "ultimate fate" in Final Crisis #6. However, we were constantly assured that Batman would not be physically killed, and yet, here we are.

Add to that that there was virtually no media hype surrounding this (unlike with the Death of Superman) and we have a rather bizarre situation, with an icon's death flying way below the radar. Hell, if a 5-page back-up story with Barack Obama in a Spider-Man comic can cause sales of that to shoot through the roof (it's already on its thrid printing), then surely the death of Batman could rival that, right?

Maybe it's because people know this won't stick, that eventually Bruce (and Darkseid) will return. There is already going to be a Battle for the Cowl to name a successor to the mantle in the meanwhile. Or maybe it's because we were told time and again that Bruce would not physically die, yet he did, and in rather gruesome fashion. However, there should still be a lot more hype for this event than this.

DC seems to have massively dropped the ball on this one, from lying about Bruce's fate, to over-hyping the ****-poor R.I.P. storyline (which, we were told, would tie into FC #6, but it doesn't; not even remotely), to forcing Bruce to break his one rule (killing) on his way out the door. Sure, it's cool that he was able to take out a freaking evil God with him, but still, the whole thing just feels poorly done when contrasted with, say, the aforementioned Death of Superman, which was both a media success and a well-written, heart-felt story.

Re: Batman is dead

I bet no one really cares because no one ever stays dead in comic books, ever. I'm surprised Batman hasn't already "died" once or twice before. It'll probably turn out to be a clone, or a robot, or something.

Re: Batman is dead

Man, that IS weird that I've seen nothing in the media. I have to admit, I admit I miss reading comics, but I refuse to get sucked back in, no matter how much I enjoy them. Slippery slope on the wallet.

How do you kill DC's top selling character and not hype it. This is beyond weird.

Between what you've said about Spidey, also, maybe it's a good thing I stopped reading a few years ago. I've been skimming a synopsis from one of the few sites I trust about stuff like this and..I dunno. What's the point of killing Batman and not hyping it unless they plan to bring himm right back, like within a month or so, through some kind of "I just outsmarted Darkseid" thingie, just to show the triumph of the human spirit, etc.

Last edited by Skaut_Ech; 01-16-2009 at 02:00 PM.

Hey! What're you kicking me for? You want me to ask? All right, I'll ask! Ma'am, where do the high school girls hang out in this town?

Re: Batman is dead

Man, that IS weird that I've seen nothing in the media. I have to admit, I admit I miss reading comics, but I refuse to get sucked back in, no matter how much I enjoy them. Slippery slope on the wallet.

How do you kill DC's top selling character and not hype it. This is beyond weird.

Between what you've said about Spidey, also, maybe it's a good thing I stopped reading a few years ago. I've been skimming a synopsis from one of the few sites I trust about stuff like this and..I dunno. What's the point of killing Batman and not hyping it unless they plan to bring himm right back, like within a month or so, through some kind of "I just outsmarted Darkseid" thingie, just to show the triumph of the human spirit, etc.

Haha, I've posted about my disdain with the whole Spider-Man debacle on the CBR forums quite a bit.

I'm actually slowly working my way back out of comics again. IMO, with what happened to Spider-Man and now Batman (my two favorite characters, btw), comics have officially jumped the shark for me. The House of Ideas is obviously out of ideas, and Grant Morrison is massively over-hyped.

Re: Batman is dead

No, that was Dr. Hurt, and the overwhelming public consensus is that he is not Bruce's father.

I wish.

I remember a month ago reading that Batman would die because this alleged father of Bruce Wayne would kill Bruce. So this appears not at all what happened. So did that storyline take place at all? ...Was that subterfuge to hide the real storyline?

And the fact I was reading that a month ago... does that indicate they tried to create some hype and it didn't take hold?

...I watched the Superman movie/cartoon where Superman 'died' and he didn't die at all. They just thought he did while his body functions were in fact slowed too much to read... and then as he 'healed' in that state he finally was able to return. So, was that accurate to the comic book?

Things like that might've meant the comics have went to the well too often on the 'dying superhero' storyline and so it's met with a 'meh' from the general public knowing (thinking) they will find a way to resurrect the 'dead' superhero.

And then, do we really want our superheros dying in the first place?

Nuntius was right. I was wrong. Frank Vogel has retained his job.

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"A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork."